


American Documentarian

by burglebezzlement



Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: Gen, The fallout of the Netflix cancellation, Treat, post-s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-25 01:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17715539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/pseuds/burglebezzlement
Summary: After the fallout of Netflix canceling their show, Sam talks Peter into investigating a new case.





	American Documentarian

**Author's Note:**

  * For [firstlovelatespring](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstlovelatespring/gifts).



> Happy Chocolate Box!
> 
> Laguna Point is a fictional town somewhere in Orange County. The case Sam digs up to tempt Peter with draws some inspiration from the Veronica Mars episode Betty and Veronica.

Sam knocks on the front door of Peter’s house, but he doesn’t wait for an answer before letting himself in.

Since Netflix pulled their deal — they’ve gone different ways, is all. Sam headed off to Camp Miniwaka for a two-week summer session, and threw himself into the Color War. It’s hard to worry about Netflix ditching you when you’re climbing a greased flagpole, protected only by your teammates and their water guns. 

Peter, though.

Based on Insta, the only person Peter’s hung out with all summer is Dylan, and that’s only because Dylan sometimes delivers Peter’s Seamless order and insists on hanging out and eating half of his food.

Sam charges up the stairs to Peter’s room. It’s a bright sunny SoCal afternoon outside, but Peter has all of the shades drawn. He’s on his bed, wearing a strange Snuggie-hoodie hybrid and staring at his cell phone.

“Just put the food on the floor,” he says, not looking up from his phone.

“Get your own food.” 

Peter looks up at that. “Sam?”

Sam finds Peter’s desk chair, buried under a pile of dirty laundry, and throws everything on the floor before pulling it over to Peter’s bed. “Come on,” he says. “We’ve got a case.”

“Are you Sam from three months ago? Are you time-traveling? We have no _show_.”

“So?”

“So Netflix pulled out,” Peter says. “No money, no distribution, no —”

“We still have the rights to the Vandal name. We have Instagram followers.” Sam leans back and then catches himself before the desk chair can pitch him backwards. “And anyway, you didn’t care about any of that when we were trying to figure out if Dylan drew the dicks.”

Peter groans and flops back on his bed. “Sam.”

“Peter.” 

Sam sits, not saying anything else, because he knows Peter, knows him better than maybe he knows himself. Peter might be able to shut himself up into a Snuggie-covered misery field when there’s nothing to do, but not if they have a case. Not if they have somewhere to go shove cameras into people’s faces.

“Fine,” Peter says, eventually. “What’s the case?”

Sam smiles.

“School mascot kidnapping over in Laguna Point,” he says. “A guy named Marco got expelled for it last week, but they never found the parrot. His girlfriend’s the one who’s called us in.”

As far as Sam is concerned, this case is perfect. High-school-based, which is consistent with their existing brand. Also, it’s not murder. Not murder is good. And based on what Marco’s girlfriend has told Sam, there’s a number of other suspects the school board didn’t even consider before expelling Marco.

It’s even within reasonable commuting distance. Without Netflix money and Chloe’s parents’ guest house behind them, they need a case they can commute to. Netflix might have pulled their deal, but Sam still has the car he bought with the money. No more begging Gabi for rides.

Peter’s sitting up now. “This is suspiciously good,” he says.

“I know.” Sam shrugs. “We got lucky.”

“No, I mean, like, it’s suspicious. A case this good.” He squints at Sam. “Did you steal the mascot?”

“Me? You know I hate birds.”

“That’s what you would say,” Peter says. “If you were the one who did it.”

“You can investigate that,” Sam says, grinning. He was at Camp Miniwaka the whole time, but Peter will probably insist on confirming his alibi. And Sam knows how much Peter liked filming there, back when they first started working on Vandal. He kept wandering around, making comments about how this was a _real_ location, like somehow Hanover High and Dylan’s mom’s kitchen didn’t count. 

“Shit,” Peter says, looking down at his cell phone.

“What?”

“We should have been filming this,” Peter says, looking horrified. “If we’re going to investigate this, if we’re going to make another season, or maybe just a special or something — you should have filmed me being here and you bursting in and —”

“Relax,” Sam says. He pulls his cell phone out of his shirt pocket and holds it out to wave to the camera before setting it on Peter’s desk, still tilted to capture the two of them. “I got you.”

Peter relaxes, and then gets up to go open all the shades. Their case board is still at the end of his room, covered in notes and photos from Dylan and the dicks. He starts taking them down, shoving them on his desk in an untidy pile.

“You’re still filming?”

Sam checks the angle on the cell phone camera, and moves it a bit to capture Peter and the board. “Yeah, I got this.”

“Okay.” Peter faces the board and takes a deep breath. “Take me through what we know so far.”

Sam smiles. Vandal is back.


End file.
